hahaha... loved the April Fools message there! I especially liked the part where "Microsoft....gave the public what it needed--a GUI to run on an IBM-compatible machine." I only wish the government had stepped is sooner and stopped them from killing off the other GUI's that came out before theirs. On Sat, 1 Apr 2000, Mark R. Myers wrote: > Because then we wouldn't all be cheerleaders for Microsoft. > Unlike some, I don't see Microsoft as the "evil empire." > I see Bill Gates as probably one of Harvard Business School's brightest > dropouts. > Let us face it, in the early days of Micorsoft, he pulled some pretty good > moves, capitalized on others mistakes (IBM), and gave the public what it > needed--a GUI to run on an IBM-compatible machine. > I remember the early days (even before DOS became synonymous with just one > OS, rather than being short of the Disk Operating System). My first IBM > compatible PC was a Zenith EZ-PC with 16 shades of gray, CGA-compatible > monitor. The biggest hard drive you could get in a computer was 20MB, and > they were HUGE (those good old, MFM drives). > The EZ had 2 720KB 3.5" floppy drives. You would have to put the DOS boot > disk in one, and your program in the other. Q&A Write (a good word processor > at the time), fit easily onto 1 720K floppy, with a little room to spare. > Then I upgraded to Professional Write and had to use both floppy drives for > the one program. > The EZ came with 512KB of RAM, and right away I bought the only expansion > possible for it. That big box on the back gave it 640KB total RAM, a 1200 > baud modem, and a serial port. > This was 1988 (so long ago). My wife would not TOUCH the thing. She could > not understand DOS, or swapping floppies, or anything like that. Once I set > Q&A up for her because she needed to write a paper. > Now, thanks to Win3.1, & Win95, and computers as a whole getting better, she > now teaches basic computing and software packages at our company (Win95, > SAP, Siebel, Lotus Notes (ugh), Office97). Why did she learn it? Because it > was graphical and it made sense to her. > There were 100s of millions of people like her. > Because these people started buying computers because computers became > easier, prices started to drop dramatically. > So, in a way, we can thank Bill Gates. Why? Partially because of his > products, the price of PCs has plummeted. > I know that if life would have been different, and any one of us would have > grown up to be Bill Gates, we wouldn't trade places with any one of us, even > for a second. > Do I like Microsoft business practices? No. Do I like some of their > products? Yes. > IMHO, I think what should be done is that MS's OS division should be > separated from the rest of the company. The OS division should openly share > any new API's or innovations in both current and upcoming OSes with other > vendors--whether they be Microsoft Software Division, IBM-Lotus, Corel, > Caldera, whoever. I think that would be fair. That would more level the > playing field. Then a small company would have the same knowledge of the > API's and the OS as Microsoft Software Division would. Whether they take > advantage of that knowledge, is up to them. > That is what I think should be done with Microsoft. And, BTW, I corrected > the spelling in the subject line. > Mark > > -----Original Message----- > From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of > jiva@devware.com > Sent: Saturday, April 01, 2000 3:58 AM > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > Subject: Re: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > > Why don't you guys take this conversation to a Microsoft oriented > mailing list? > > On Fri, Mar 31, 2000 at 02:44:11PM -0700, Carl Parrish wrote: > > I believe that according to the anti-trust laws. *Being* a monopoly in an > > open market *is* against the law. (course I could be wrong. Memory of my > > history class is foggy at best) > > > > Carl Parrish > > Webmaster > > ComputerPREP.com > > > > > > From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Jim W > > Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 2:19 PM > > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > Subject: Re: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > > > > > Not quite, Carl. The judge has decreed that M$ is a monopoly. The > decision > > about whether they violated any law is still pending. I agree that the > > judge's decree seems to indicate that he believes that there were laws > > broken, but until he states that in public, under the U.S. constitution, > M$ > > is still innocent. > > > > Jim > > > > the future is now > > > > From: Carl Parrish > > To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > > > Date: Friday, March 31, 2000 2:13 PM > > Subject: RE: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > > > > > > > > >The courts seems to disagree with you. They've already judged that M$ did > > >infact break the law. > > > > > >Carl Parrish > > >Webmaster > > >ComputerPREP.com > > > > > > > > >From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >[mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Joseph > > >T. Tannenbaum > > >Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 12:48 PM > > >To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >Subject: RE: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > > > > > > > >They didn't "break the law", they just were not nice. > > > > > >Joe > > > > > >> From: plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >> [mailto:plug-discuss-admin@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us]On Behalf Of Kevin > > >> O'Connor > > >> Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 9:21 PM > > >> To: plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >> Subject: Re: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > >> > > >> > > >> The buying public doesn't 'decide' ... They follow like lemmings. > > >> > > >> Microsoft has broken the law. There are penalties for that. > > >> > > >> Kevin O > > >> > > >> "Mark R. Myers" wrote: > > >> > > > >> > My vote is to do nothing and leave Microsoft alone. > > >> > No one put a gun to anyone's head and said that they had to purchase > a > > >> > Microsoft product. > > >> > No tobacco company got someone addicted to nicotine against their > will. > > >> > With the AOL/Time Warner merger, it will make them a much larger > > company > > >> > than Microsoft and should provide some formidable competition. > > >> > I like free software, but more importantly, I love free enterprise. > > >> > I say, let the buying public decide, not a judge. > > >> > There were no lawsuits by Sony when the VHS format (invented by > > >> JVC) beat > > >> > out Betamax, even though Betamax was a better product. > > >> > I say, let the market decide. Let the people decide. > > >> > There are some Microsoft products that I do like. > > >> > Microsoft gave me a free copy of Windows2000 Professional (see, they > > are > > >> > getting into free software! :-) ) > > >> > IMHO, it is the best OS that they have put out yet. > > >> > But again, let the people decide. > > >> > I DO NOT like Microsoft's businesses practices. I think Bill > > >> Gates' parents > > >> > never taught him how to "play nice." > > >> > But there are other companies that I don't like their business > > practices > > >> > too. > > >> > I purchased SuSE 6.3 (I will give all of the disks away free to > > >> anyone who > > >> > wants them). > > >> > For some reason, I could not get it to print. > > >> > I never had that problem with any other brand of Linux. > > >> > When I contacted customer service via e-mail concerning the issue, as > a > > >> > registered SuSE users, I was informed that basic customer > > >> service did not > > >> > include the ability to make your computer able to print. > > >> > I am sorry, but I think that printing is one of the main > > >> reasons PCs took > > >> > off in the first place. I consider printing to be a "basic need" of > an > > >> > operating system. > > >> > So I disagree. I think Microsoft should be scolded for > > >> predatory business > > >> > practices, and that is that. Let the buyers decided. > > >> > I guess I'm just too much a disciple of Milton Freedman economics. > > >> > Mark > > >> > > > >> > From: "Furmanek, Greg" > > >> > To: > > >> > Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2000 3:01 PM > > >> > Subject: What shell we do with the Microsoft..... > > >> > > > >> > > I have great suggestion how to equalize the market MS > > >> > > is monopolizing!!! > > >> > > > > >> > > Fine MS $15,000,000,000.00 and donate the money to > > >> > > Free Software Foundation!!!! > > >> > > > > >> > > The Wolf > > >> > > > > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > >> > > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >> > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > >> > > > > >> > > > >> > _______________________________________________ > > >> > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > >> > > >> > > >> "Waving away a cloud of smoke, I look up, and am blinded by a bright, > > >> white > > >> light. It's God. No, not Richard Stallman, or Linus Torvalds, but God. > > >> In > > >> a booming voice, He says: "THIS IS A SIGN. USE LINUX, THE FREE UNIX > > >> SYSTEM > > >> FOR THE 386." > > >> (Matt Welsh) > > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > >> > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > > >Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > > >Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > >http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > -- > Don't hit a man when he's down -- kick him; it's easier. > > _______________________________________________ > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > > > _______________________________________________ > Plug-discuss mailing list - Plug-discuss@lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=[The Realm of Darkness]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= O- Ken Bowley johann@trod.org AKA: Lord Johann http://www.trod.org -=-=-=-=-=[ Linux, the choice of the GNU generation ]=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- $f